The diplomat says that as long as the Fidesz party leader Victor Orban's government is in power in Budapest, Kyiv will still have to work with them.

flickr.com/photos/zselosz

Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration Olena Zerkal believes Hungary is guided by the imperial mindset of the divided Austro-Hungarian Empire in its policy toward Ukraine.

Speaking on Pryamiy TV Channel, the diplomat said that Budapest's position on Ukraine depends not only on the internal parliamentary elections set to be held in April but also on their relations with Brussels.

"This is not just about elections, not just Ukraine, it's their relations with the European Union. It is also about migration policy issues. Even in the United Nations, they have now taken a position that is quite different from that of the EU on the development of a framework document on migration. Ukraine had nothing to do with it in this case. This is just the way they are now positioning themselves, and you can't do anything about it. As long as Orban's government is in power, we must work with what we have," Zerkal said.

"And it's even worse with Slovakia: they insist that they also need an autonomy there and exclusively Hungarian language of instruction at schools," said Zerkal.

The deputy minister also believes that it is necessary to successfully complete a decentralization reform in Zakarpattia so that local communities can be united and take on the functions of self-government.

In her conviction, once decentralization is complete, "the Hungarian community alone won't be able to do everything separately". "They will need to communicate with the Ukrainians, and this will create another socium. They should be integrated into other communities, and this will once again remove all tension," said Zerkal.

Read alsoOrban's game pulls Hungary closer to Russia - mediaAs UNIAN reported earlier, on March 19, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that his country demanded from Ukraine to amend the law on education and postpone its implementation until 2023. Otherwise, Szijjarto said Hungary would block Ukraine's efforts toward EU and NATO integration. Also, the minister voiced his opposition to the possible deployment of an up to 1,000-strong battalion of Ukrainian soldiers in Zakarpattia.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter